Effect of Self-Pouring Temperature on the Microstructural Characteristics of Al₂O₃-LM6 Semi-solid Cast Composite

The influence of self-pouring temperature condition was used to convert Al₂O₃ and LM6 powder particles into a cast composite. In comparison with a conventional casting process, a modified route for fabrication of the Al₂O₃-LM6 composite was used under low pressure compaction and furnace heating. In this experimental work, ball-milled powder particles were compacted with the effect of heat flowing through a tapered passage in a die under gravitational flow action. The microstructure evaluation and mechanical properties of the produced composite were investigated for the developed composite. The observation of the microstructure and mechanical properties reveals successful incorporation of the reinforcement which significantly improved the mechanical properties and cast microstructure. The results suggest that maximum possibility of improvement in mechanical properties is obtained for the mixture combination of 83.5% Al blended with 12.5% Si and 4% Al₂O₃ by wt. Increments of 0.36%, 5.57%, and 5.23% in the density, hardness, and impact strength, respectively, were observed, which was also identified in the analysis of variance of the experimental data for the interaction effect of each processing parameter.